


To Create What Isn't There

by Buffintruder



Series: Aro Spec Awareness Week [10]
Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Gen, Pansexual Character, professional athletes au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 17:23:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13792518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buffintruder/pseuds/Buffintruder
Summary: Angry at the lack of representation, Kel wants to do something to fix it. Neal figures he’s going to get dragged into this whether he likes it or not.





	To Create What Isn't There

Keladry Mindelan glared at the screen with burning passion. Her normally calm and blank expression was livid. Her dreamy hazel eyes were now sharp and clear with anger. If she was any more furious, Neal was quite certain that the tv would crumple under the weight of her glare.

 

From across the couch, Neal gave her another uneasy glance. He had been friends with her for a long time, and he knew her well enough to know that she was not always as stone-faced and smooth-tempered as her competitors and the media liked to say she was. He had seen her cry and lose her temper before—things that many would claim were impossible. But Neal also knew that this kind of display of emotion wasn’t very common, even in the company of those she was close to.

 

It wasn’t that he thought she would simply brush it off— _ Neal  _ was angry, and it didn’t even affect him as directly—but he hadn’t expected her to show it so clearly. She was more upset than he first expected her to be. It was a little concerning; Kel made her most reckless decisions when she was enraged.

 

On the screen, the music faded and the tv show cut to the commercials. Neal muted it and waited for Kel to talk. That seemed like it would be the safest option. He was a little worried that Kel would run out to find the show writers and physically fight them. Being an Olympic fencer, she had a very good chance of winning.

 

“I thought I’d have someone to relate to for once,” Kel said quietly. “Hoping that the show writers would even have  _ heard _ of the words aromantic and asexual would be asking too much, of course, but Tris said she didn’t do relationships, and she never showed any interest in  _ anybody _ over the course of  _ years _ . Daja, Sandry, Briar, they’ve all had a romantic interest of sort by this point, so it isn’t just that, I dunno, she was too young throughout most of the show to be involved in that kind of thing. I just thought... I actually thought it would stay that way. But I guess even that was too high of a hope.”

 

“It wasn’t even a  _ good _ romance,” Neal agreed vehemently. “It was barely developed. It felt more like an ‘oh no viewers are starting to think she’s not straight, quick! give her a man!’ kind of romance.”

 

“It’s not in character,” Kel added. “She  _ never _ jumps head first into anything. Why would she fall in love with someone in one day and then act on it? It doesn’t make sense!”

 

“Right?!”

 

“I’m just. So  _ tired _ of getting my hopes up every time a character seems a  _ little bit  _ like they might not be paired up with someone or is a  _ little _ less interested in romance than every other character! We have no actual representation and even our pseudo-representation that we find and make our own  _ always _ seems to be taken away.”

 

“This whole thing isn’t something that happened in the books at all,” Neal said disgustedly. “I should have known this show would be no good as an adaptation ever since they whitewashed Briar. Sorry I ever dragged you into watching this show with me.”

 

“Maybe I should just read the books,” Kel grumbled.

 

“I mean, you should,” Neal said. “They’re really great, but Tris doesn’t seem quite as aroace in them as she did in the show up until this episode.”

 

Kel shrugged.

 

Neal waited for her to say something else. He had a bad feeling that Kel was going to do something reckless, and he would prefer to have whatever she was planning out in the open as soon as possible. The only thing worse than a properly angry Kel was a Kel who wanted to act alone, because that meant whatever she was doing was either stupid or dangerous.

 

“Do you want to watch the rest of this episode?” Neal asked carefully, after a long moment. “Because I can just turn this off, and we can do something else.”

 

“Might as well finish it.” Kel sighed, and the anger faded from her face though not, Neal suspected, from her mind. “I do want to see how the main plot resolves, even if this side plot is the worst.”

 

“Alright,” Neal said. After another commercial, the show resumed, so he unmuted the tv and they finished the episode. It had been a good resolution, but the taint of Tris’s new love interest made it less than enjoyable.

 

“I was thinking,” Kel said as the closing music began. “We need more real representation, right?”

 

_ Here it is _ , Neal thought as he hit the power button on the remote. She was going to reveal her plan of attack. Neal just hoped it wasn’t the one he was starting to suspect it would be. 

 

“Absolutely,” he said anyway.

 

“I can’t name a single aro or ace celebrity or politician or anybody in the public eye. And I only know a couple of fictional characters. People of other sexualities are more common, like straight and gay, though the latter is still not enough or treated very well. But multi-spec people are also slighted. People like to erase them by saying they’re really just gay or straight, and we rarely get to hear the labels they choose for themselves. The ones that are out are mostly bi, and other identities like pan are less heard of.”

 

Neal eyed Kel warily. Apparently, she was going to drag him, a pan man, into this as well. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to go along with it yet. Kel was taking her time in getting to the point, maybe to warm him up to the idea, but Neal figured it would be better to just state it. “You want us to both publicly come out.”

 

Kel shrugged innocently. “Well,  _ I _ want to come out. You can do whatever you want.”

 

“Are you sure it’s a good idea? It’s not safe.” Neal was not generally the more logical of the two, but when Kel was angry, she was far less likely to care about the negative consequences. Then again, regardless of how she felt about something, Kel was generally braver and more willing to risk herself to help others.

 

“Of course it won’t be  _ completely _ safe! But if  _ I _ come out, more people will hear about it than if the average person does. And what’s the worst that could happen to happen to me? I’ll lose my job as an  _ Olympic fencer _ ?”

 

“I mean, yes, but also—”

 

“I wasn’t planning on being an athlete forever anyway, Neal. I already have half a dozen backup plans in case of injury or for when I get too old. What’s the point of having the power and privileges that I have if I don’t use it to speak out against issues that matter to me? I want to start a conversation about asexuality and aromanticism. I want to open the door for more people to speak out.”

 

Neal carefully considered his options. The media backlash would be dreadful, and if they didn’t do things properly, it might have an overall more negative impact on the LGBTQ+ community, especially for aros, aces, and pans. Besides, fencing was hardly a well-followed sport. Even though they were among the world’s top fencers, most people had never heard of them. Their coming out might even go largely unnoticed.

 

Except the media loved a scandal, and unfortunately merely not being straight was still considered one. With the summer Olympics coming up in a year, the timing would be good if they wanted attention. Neal and Kel, as wealthy white people, would not be as harmed and attacked by this as many others would be. Maybe they could inspire others to follow in their footsteps and make it safer for people who weren’t wealthy and white to tell their own stories. And Kel did have a good point about needing the representation.

 

It wasn’t really like he would ever have ended up choosing any other option, Neal thought resignedly.

 

“I think the impact would be bigger if we both came out at the same time,” Neal said. “More media will be focused on us, and the word would spread further. Do you think it would be more effective if we came out at the same moment, or if we waited a day or two in between?” Waiting would give the chance for some people to be shocked, and then shocked even further when the second one came out.

 

Kel grinned at him. “So you’ll do this with me?”

 

“Hey, I want better representation just as much as you do. And if we aren’t given it, then we should go out and make some, right?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

A sudden thought caused Neal to smirk. “Coach Wyldon is going to be so pissed when he hears.”

 

Kel laughed. “Honestly, his face alone might make this completely worth it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write aro!Kel ever since Tamora Pierce confirmed it, but I guess it took me awhile.   
> The tv show they're talking about is based off of Pierce's books in the Emelan universe because why not.


End file.
